Genna Wright, seen here during tennis, netted Coupeville’s first soccer goal of the season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
She’s back.
It’s been 585 days since Genna Wright left the soccer pitch in agony, suffering a devastating injury in the season opener of her junior season.
Chucked hard from behind while sprinting towards the sideline in pursuit of a ball, the effervescent star went down awkwardly, tearing her ACL, MCL, and meniscus.
In the blink of an eye, her season was done, and then the hits kept coming.
Surgery. Recovery. A worldwide pandemic shutting down prep sports just as she was set to return.
Jump forward to Wednesday night, though, and a lot of that melted away.
Wright, running free in front of family and friends once again, slashed through La Conner’s defense to open her senior campaign with a much-more positive result, and her smile, and those of her teammates, lit up Mickey Clark Field.
By the time the Wolves were done ripping up the turf, they had a tidy 4-0 win over the visiting Braves, putting Coupeville atop the Northwest 2B/1B League standings a game into a pared-down six-game schedule.
With two more games against La Conner, and three against Mount Vernon Christian, CHS is chasing the first league title in program history.
Play like they did Wednesday, and the Wolf booters will soon have a place on the Wall of Fame in the CHS gym.
Coupeville struck quickly, with Wright going on a rampage barely four minutes into the game.
Fed a ball by Carolyn Lhamon, the resurgent one went coast-to-coast, then slapped a shot left to right, burying the ball in the corner of the net for the year’s first score.
It was the 18th prep goal for Wright — she had 10 as a freshman, and seven as a sophomore — allowing her to break a tie with Lindsey Roberts as the #3 scorer in CHS girls soccer history.
Mia Littlejohn (35 goals) and Kalia Littlejohn (33) sit at #1 and #2 all-time.
The Wolves stayed on the attack the rest of the first half, keeping the ball on La Conner’s side of the field, but narrowly missed on a couple of prime scoring opportunities.
Up 1-0 at the break, with goaltender Mollie Bailey able to spend much of her time quietly basking in the sun, Coupeville broke things open in the second half.
Sophie Martin crunched a shot which should have been a goal, only to have it be redirected by the La Conner goalie’s knee, while Audrianna Shaw and Wright also had strong looks which didn’t quite pay off.
But then the dam broke, as the Wolves whacked home three scores in the final 22+ minutes.
Eryn Wood was first up, punching in a ball off of a feed from Shaw, before Lhamon and Reese Wilkinson buried shots in the back of the net.
It was Wood’s second career high school goal, and the first for both of her teammates.
Coupeville continued to hammer away, with Lily Leedy putting together a nice run on goal which fell just short, while the Wolf defense was virtually lights out.
Bailey was her usual calm self in goal, flicking away the few shots La Conner mounted, but watched as her defenders did much of the dirty work.
Nezi Keiper, Anna Myles, Katelin McCormick, and Mary Milnes were a wall in the backfield, blunting any chance the Braves had to mount a threat.
CHS coach Kyle Nelson has his program in a strong place, with a 17-woman roster which also includes Ava Mitten, Camryn Clark, Sofia Milasich, Noelle Daigneault, and Gwen Crowder.
The Wolves are back at it Saturday, hosting Mount Vernon Christian in a game set to kickoff at 1 PM.
